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Chapter Six
Elijah
Six days later I saw the mom and Lucy again—the following Friday. I felt she was purposely leaving early on the nights she worked. I felt even worse since I’d disrupted someone’s life. So when Lucy and her mom—still didn’t know her name—were walking down the stairway right as I pulled in, I was surprised and honestly relieved. I just wanted to get those damn chips on my passenger side seat gone.
Rushing out and slamming the door rather loudly, I strode over to her car with the bag in hand. I knew they saw me coming. When the mom raised her head, she halted and watched me warily. She even glimpsed desperately toward the stairs, debating on going back up before she tugged on Lucy’s hand and resumed walking toward her car—staring at it intensely instead of me standing next to it.
Although Lucy scowled at me, she wasn’t saying anything. I hadn’t been the only one to be scolded about opening my mouth. The closer they got, the more unsure I was on how to handle the whole apologizing thing.
When I saw the mom was going to ignore me completely, I stalked around to the passenger’s side. She was at the back door, putting Lucy inside. I thrust the bag over the opened door. It was a bad move since she was already bent down. The bag made a crinkling noise as she flinched and stood quickly.
“Here.” I looked away and shoved the bag toward her. When I glimpsed over at her from the corner of my eye, I saw that my hands were practically on her breasts. I lowered my arms and took a step back as she studied the bag.
“What is it?” She sounded pissed off.
I waved the bag in front of her face. “Chips. I got your kid some.”
The woman’s eyes hardened on me. Even underneath the streetlight they were an impressive blue—striking and alluring…maybe. My breath snagged on something in my chest as I waited for her to say something. Anything. Standing there like a fucking idiot was awkward as hell.
“No thanks.” She focused on Lucy, buckling straps over her shoulders and chest.
“Take it,” I told her.
When she finished and slammed the door, she eyed the bag again skeptically. “We don’t want it.”
“I want it!” Lucy piped in, her loud voice slightly muffled from inside the vehicle.
Her mom peered at Lucy through the window. “Lucy, you can’t take things from strangers even when offered. That’s dangerous.”
I dropped my hand. “I did nothing to it.”
“We still don’t want it,” she replied as she did her customary waddle around the car.
I followed, grabbing my wallet from my back pocket. “Here, then, pick her up some on the way.”
When she turned back and saw me pulling out a twenty, it only made her angrier. “We don’t want your money! God bless…” Her words faded into a hiss. There was a different sort of sound that fell from her throat. More like a painful guttural sound as she pinched her eyes shut.
I watched as she cupped her round, very pregnant belly and my eyes widened. “Is everything okay?”
Trying to straighten her spine, she whimpered. “I’m about to have a baby anytime now and a grown man keeps picking fights with me about my daughter. No. I am not fine.”
The other mother had been wrong. My not-so-innocent gesture was making everything worse.
“Look,” I said, but she was already in the driver’s seat. Before she could shut the door, I blurted out, “I’m sorry, okay? I feel shitty about the way I acted toward the kid. I don’t like…do well with them.” I offered the bag again. “So, please, just take the damn chips and know that I’ve felt bad the entire time because of it. I’m an asshole, but even assholes feel bad sometimes, okay?”
She was holding her belly…baby…uterus? Really, when pregnant wasn’t it kind of all those things? Regardless, she was still holding it. Now that I stared some more, there was an unnatural gleam to her skin as she tried to focus on me. “Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked again.
She blinked rapidly before shaking her head. “Yeah, I am.” She rested her head on the steering wheel and sighed. “Just forget about it, okay? I won’t let it bother me now that I know you at least feel guilty, right Lucy?”
“Can I have them?” Lucy asked another question instead of answering the one she got.
“No,” her mom clipped out.
“I really did nothing to the chips,” I said almost hesitantly. “Can you even do anything to chips?”
She thought about it seriously before saying, “I don’t know, but how about instead of taking the bag, you’ll promise not to go stealing another kid’s?”
It was right on the tip of my tongue to say something mean. My mouth opened, but I clamped it shut, tilted my head, then said, “That was the first and last.”
“Then, I hope this is the last time we argue….” She drifted off like she was waiting for something, eyeing me expectantly, even her chin dipping down as she studied and waited. For what?
“Elijah.”
“Elijah?” She finished her sentence, strangely appearing dumbfounded about something. Then I gave her the same look she’d given me. “Hadley.” She was quick with the head nod, letting her eyes dart away and gazing at the car door like it was a saving grace. I knew the signs of someone wanting to escape because I did a lot of that myself. Stepping back, I didn’t know what else to do but walk away.
Did people normally just leave after introducing themselves? I thought about it and shrugged. Oh, well. Neither of us was comfortable. She clearly wanted to get away, and I felt ten times lighter after getting those words out. I didn’t care about anything beyond that point.
I heard Lucy yell, “Mommy!” followed by, “What’s wrong?”
That was a trap. One of many I’d fall prey to the months that led to becoming friends with this woman and her tiny family. A fundamental change in my life. Only I didn’t know it yet.
